Former WBC champ Gabriel Bernal passes

By Gabriel F. Cordero

Former WBC flyweight world champion Gabriel Bernal passed away at the age of 58 in the evening hours at the General Hospital in Mexico City. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman relayed the news and said that the WBC had kept in communication with Bernal in recent years and will take care of all the arrangements. Bernal won the title on April 9, 1984 when he beat Japan’s Koji Kobayashi at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. He made one defense, then lost the title against Sot Chilada, whom he fought three times in world title fights. He had record of 43-14-3, 28 KOs.